Prescription restrictions in the NHS are leading to many people with diabetes being refused test strips, campaigners warned today.
About 25% of patients reported facing restrictions or refusal of their access to test strips, according to the findings of a Diabetes UK survey.
This stood at 20% four years ago, the charity said.
It found that about half of those with problems had type 1 diabetes.
Diabetes UK called for new national guidelines on the access to test strips.
Nikki Joule, from the charity, said: "No one with Type 1 diabetes should have their test strips restricted. It is a false economy and causes people to face stressful decisions about when to test or not.
"As well as being vital for people with Type 1 diabetes, anyone with Type 2 diabetes can benefit from testing so should be supported to do so if it is helping them to better manage their condition.
"We urge people to challenge restrictions and refusals."
But Dr Stephen Lawrence, clinical lead for diabetes at the Royal College of GPs, said: “£24m of the scarce NHS budget is spent on diabetes care every day and it would be irresponsible not to make the most appropriate use of limited resources.
“The benefits of self-monitoring blood glucose levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes is unclear and the latest guidance from NICE specifies that the majority of patients do not need to self test.
“Therefore it would be inappropriate to issue self test strips as a ‘one size fits all’, especially when advances in medical treatment and technology are constantly emerging, particularly with newer forms of oral medications that do not cause hypoglycaemia."
He added: “For those with Type 1 diabetes, self-monitoring is needed to ensure good control of blood glucose levels and help avoid hypoglycaemic episodes. But the frequency of such monitoring will depend on the patient’s individual circumstances and testing should never be done for the sake of it."
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